The NBA’s week-long transaction window, which opened last Tuesday at noon eastern time, will close tonight at 11:59 pm ET, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.
A number of teams have taken advantage of the opportunity to sign, claim, and waive players within the last seven days, including the Thunder, who agreed to a new long-term deal with two-way player Luguentz Dort, the Knicks, who claimed Theo Pinson and Jared Harper while waiving Allonzo Trier, and many others. We’ll have a full recap of the week’s transactions on Wednesday morning.
Here’s what happens when this week’s transaction window closes:
- Teams can no longer sign a player to a contract (unless he’s a substitute player).
- Teams can no longer convert a two-way player to their standard roster.
- Luxury tax penalties are calculated based on team payrolls as of June 30.
I wouldn’t expect a huge flurry of last-minute moves today, but it’s worth noting that a few teams still have roster spots available, including the Suns, Trail Blazers, Hornets (two), Warriors (two), and Timberwolves. Some – but not all – of those clubs have luxury-tax concerns.
For the 22 teams headed to Orlando to participate in the NBA’s restart, there’s one exception to the roster freeze. Starting on July 1, teams will still be able to sign a substitute player to replace a player who voluntarily opts out, contracts COVID-19, or is ruled out due to being at higher risk of serious coronavirus symptoms.
So far, six players have opted out of the restart — they’ll be ineligible to return this season, but eligible to be replaced by substitute players. In most cases, those players’ teams have already lined up those substitutes and will be able to sign them as of noon ET on Sunday.
J.R. Smith will replace Avery Bradley for the Lakers; Jerian Grant will replace Davis Bertans for the Wizards; Jaylen Adams will replace Trevor Ariza for the Trail Blazers; Justin Anderson will replace Wilson Chandler for the Nets; and Trey Burke will replace Willie Cauley-Stein for the Mavericks. Brooklyn still needs to line up a second substitute player for DeAndre Jordan.
This form of substitute-player transaction is permitted through August 14. After that, teams can still sign a replacement for a player who contracts COVID-19, but the substitute must have no more than three years of NBA service, ruling out a number of veterans.
If Spencer Dinwiddie doesn’t decide by tomorrow to opt out, but realizes he’s not healing fast enough after his 14-day quarantine, can the Nets still replace him?
Yes
Yes. A team can still replace any players opting out with a substitute
Being able to sign a replacement player for another who contracts the virus obviously makes sense, but the “no more than three years of NBA experience” caveat seems a little off the wall.
So after all, players can still “voluntarily opt out” and be replaced with a substitute after July 1? What’s the point of the July 1 deadline then? I get it that players testing positive for Covid may be replaced even after July 1 but I thought there is no more “voluntarily opting out” for “family reasons”/fear of injury/I just don’t feel like it/etc. reasons.
My understanding is that players can still voluntarily opt out after July 1, yeah. The July 1 deadline is more about setting tentative rosters and opening the window to start signing substitute players. After teams are settled in Orlando, any substitute player added to a roster will have to quarantine for 10 days when he arrives, I believe.
With no publicly-available CBA to track all the rule changes, this is all based on various reporting, so it’s been tricky nailing down the specifics of some rules.
Only two of the five teams above the luxury-tax threshold, Miami and OKC, have winning records. Although Orlando and Portland might still make the playoffs as well. Leaving Minnesota as the only tax payer with no possibility of reaching the postseason this year.